Retired Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts, 71, Dies

Served For 30 Years

January 5, 2004|By Nancy L. OthM-sn Staff Writer

Ask anyone who's been in Palm Beach County long enough, and it's likely they have their own way of remembering retired Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts. They may know him as the inspiration for the literary character "Maximum Bob," they may recall his love of orchids or his seemingly limitless knowledge of local history, but they probably will think first of his passion for the law.

Judge Mounts, 71, who retired a year ago after serving 30 years as a judge, died Saturday.

Judge Mounts, the son of the county's longtime agricultural agent for whom Mounts Botanical Garden is named, was an avid scholar of local history, well-versed in the lore of early Florida battles of the Seminole Indians.

As one of the state's longest-serving judges, he sometimes gave drug offenders a chance for rehabilitation, sending them to the drug farm rather than jail. He once spent 45 minutes reading a 42-page ruling as he handed out a triple death sentence.

"He dedicated his whole life to the judiciary, everything else was secondary," said retired Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Rodgers.

Judge Mounts hired Rodgers as the county's first black prosecutor, ignoring those who tried to convince him that a black prosecutor would have trouble securing convictions with white juries.

"I think that there are a number of people who tried to dissuade him from appointing me and felt though it just wouldn't work," Rodgers said. "I will remember him as a man who saw the need for a change and took the initiative to make it."

Judge Mounts relished presiding over criminal trials, preferring the pace and drama of a criminal trial over civil proceedings. In an interview before his December 2002 retirement, he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he loved "the heat and the thrill and the drumbeat of trials."

"It's very fulfilling to me," Mounts said.

Judge Mounts' colorful history was the inspiration for mystery writer Elmore Leonard's character "Maximum Bob," but Judge Mounts was nothing like the redneck, racist judge found in Leonard's novel.

Judge Mounts was always considerate of his staff and jurors, never starting trials too early or ending too late, said defense attorney Jack Orsley, who tried a five-week-long case in front of Judge Mounts.

"He didn't abuse his robe, he never did that," Orsley said.

Judge Mounts' reputation as a judge who did not suffer fools initially intimidated Orsley when he began trying criminal cases, he said.

"When I first went in front of him, he used to scare the hell out of me because of his reputation, but it wasn't true," Orsley said. "He showed compassion when he thought someone was remorseful or if he thought the state attorney over-charged the case. Then again, if your client wasn't a good guy, he knew it."

Judge Mounts spent 13 years as a top prosecutor and was elected to the circuit bench in 1972. He described himself as a "humanist," an advocate of a criminal justice system that not only doled out punishment but found therapeutic solutions if the situation lent itself.

Around the courthouse, Judge Mounts also was known for leading an annual three-day prison tour designed to give prosecutors and public defenders an inside look at the state penal system.

Lately, Judge Mounts devoted his energy to restoring Palm Beach County's original 1916 courthouse. County Commissioner Karen Marcus traveled to Tallahassee, where the judge testified in front of a committee that determined whether the county would receive a historic preservation grant.

Palm Beach County got the grant, and the courthouse will be restored.

"I'm sorry he's going to miss all that," Marcus said.

Marcus was so impressed with Judge Mounts that she was going to nominate him as the county's official historian at a meeting later this month.

"Everyone viewed him as a historian anyway. He had just a love of history in general."

Nancy L. OthM-sn can be reached at nothon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.